Executives from American solar manufacturers, distributors and installers testified before the International Trade Commission demanding Chinese manufacturers be held accountable for the “unmistakable causes of damage to the American solar industry.” They added that without relief, including the application of duties for the surge in imports after the cases were filed, it is unlikely that the American industry can survive.
Technology company active in the production of enclosures and industrial components, Phoenix Mecano, has announced an impairment of tangible and intangible assets in its ELCOM/EMS division effective December 2012. With the cancellation of a long-term framework supply contract for PV components with a major customer, Phoenix Mecano anticipates an impairment loss of approximately €6-8 million.
Head of FiTs of the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, Alisdair Grainger, told participants at Solar Power UK in Birmingham that 98.2% of installations in the UK are now from PV. The government minister made a very strong attempt to reassure the audience that cuts to and degression of the FiT in the UK was a good thing.
The German Federal Network Agency has reported that PV installations in Germany were significantly sluggish in August, with the country adding only 330MW of new PV capacity during the month, compared to 612MW in August 2011 and 543MW in July 2012.
French trade union the CGT has expressed concern over the proposed idling of module production at Bosch’s Vénissieux plant in France for two weeks at the end of October.
Sundog Energy and Kier Construction have officially turned on the 204 kWp rooftop BIPV system at King’s Cross railway station in London, UK. Dubbed as one of the largest and most complex building-integrated PV systems in the UK, it is projected to have an output of around 175,000 kWh per annum.
Power-One advised that it will be taking its partnership with Cologne-based wholesaler Energiebau Solarstromsysteme to international markets. Energiebau will offer Power-One’s Aurora Uno and Trio inverters, as well as the Aurora Assure Plus service, to a more comprehensive network of installers in Germany. The offerings will be available immediately.
Martifer Solar’s plans to expand its PV power plant projects business remains on-track after completing two of the largest PV power plants in Portugal that have a combined capacity of 22.4MWp. The project developer had around €235 million worth of projects in its backlog at the end of the first-half of 2012, with management expectation of increasing installations by a double digit amount this year, compared with around 200MW installed in 2011.
Yingli Green Energy Holding’s held up a defensive front today as it issued a statement rejecting any accusations that it had illegally subsidized its products. The statement is in response to accusations in an anti-subsidy complaint filed by EuProsun, which was submitted to the European Commission yesterday.
Despite record cell efficiencies being announced in recent years, just 0.5% of advanced technologies for cell efficiency have been implemented into volume production on an annual basis. A panel session moderated by PV-Tech’s senior editor Mark Osborne, part of the PV Production Forum 2012 at EU PVSEC, discusses the reasons why migration has been so slow.
